This morning we tried one of the places they had been seen before without luck before moving a mile or two East to join another small group of amateur watchers. We scanned the hill sides and the animal trails down from the high country for some time. Suddenly we heard a cry, “I think I see one. On the high trail to the right.” There they came, tails held high, bouncing along,
just having a good time and heading straight for us. What followed was a once in a lifetime experience. Nine wolves, later identified as the Slough Creek Pack, came down from the hillside and made for the riverside flood plain right in front us. They checked momentarily then made for a small depression in the plain, as soon as they hit the plain proper a coyote erupted out of the depression and ran away at top speed along the riverside. At first we expected them to chase the coyote as breakfast but they stopped at the depression and it quickly became clear that there was a carcass there, possibly killed by the pack last night. We had been there yesterday, near dusk and had seen no activity but there had been a lone pronghorn antelope grazing on the flood plain.
A large black wolf wearing a radio collar was first to eat but he soon allowed the others in to feed. The carcass was quickly torn in to several pieces and the wolves separated out and started a leisurely breakfast. There was no frenzied feeding but just a group of high spirited animals eating, playing tag with each other, stealing each others food and generally having a good time. [We were later to find out from the park biologist that the large black collared male was the alpha. The pack had been attacked by the Druid pack in the last ten days and the alpha and beta females were both killed.] There were three more large black wolves without collars who may have been this years pups and another two good sized gray wolves, one with a collar. One of the gray wolves went back to the site of the kill and came out with a large piece of the hide, which looked like it might have belonged to a pronghorn. A tug of war soon developed with three to five wolves piling in then dropping out to rest for a minute or two before coming back for more.
By this time word had got out amongst the serious wolf watchers and we were in the midst of a hundred or so people some like us with just binoculars and hand held cameras, others, usually dressed in camo., with giant spotter scopes and yard long camera lenses all on heavy duty tripods. Park rangers were dealing with the ‘Wolf Jam’ on the road. One of the two park wolf biologists were there and I was able to quiz her and she corrected my initial identification of the pack from Druid to Slough Creek.
The wolves seemed oblivious to us although there were the odd glances in our direction. After about an hour the play seemed to be over, most of the wolves lay down and only one or two were active. About fifteen minutes later one wolf started back towards the high country and this seemed to trigger the others in to getting up.
About three seemed to have left and the others were moving out when the leavers returned tails held high and a melee resulted around the kill. I could see no point in this other than high spirits but the coyote, a few ravens and several magpies who were on the scraps, got out of Dodge as fast as they could.
Then they left for good, not travelling line astern as a tight knit pack but spread out up and down the hillside, spooking a small herd of pronghorns as they went. It looked like they were heading away from Druid territory and towards Slough Creek.
We were incredibly lucky as it transpired that many of the other watchers had been coming several weeks each year, winter and summer, for many years and that was the best they had seen.
There were several unusual things about this wolf feeding. First, it was a pronghorn and they are supposed to be too fast for wolves to kill but maybe it was lame of sick. Second, there seemed to be very little domination / submission behaviour by the wolves perhaps due the absence of a female alpha. Thirdly the kill had not been taken over by a grizzly. Grizzlies can smell out a kill from many miles away and will takeover the kill, even sleeping on top of it to retain ownership.
Mud Volcanoes and Pelican Flats 21st September 08
We had a housekeeping sort of morning as it had dawned wet cold and windy before heading up for a walk round the mud volcanoes near Yellowstone Lake. The volcanic theme continued as we visited an area of the lake where the ground is hot enough for fisherman to cook their newly caught trout. The sulphur might add a little unusual flavour to the fish however.
We stopped off at Pelican Flats hoping to see some other fisherman in action but it looks like the ospreys had left on their migration south. The big herd of bison, many with calves, held our attention for a while. The calves were playful but the adults just kept their heads down mowing that succulent flats grass. Suddenly we saw a lone black wolf on the far side of the flats. At first it looked like he was stalking the herd and we wondered if we were going to see an attack by the only Yellowstone pack that has learned how to kill bison but it quickly became clear that he was not serious and the bison just ignored him. Eventually we lost sight of him as he headed up the valley. Still it is our second day with a wolf sighting. He probably belonged to the Mollies pack.
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